The present invention relates to an electronic watch and to a method for driving an electronic watch, and more particularly to an electronic watch and drive method therefor, which can improve the value of using an electronic watch having added functions.
In a known electronic watch of the past, in order to as long a possible a life for a power supply means, formed by a battery or power supply means formed by an electrical generator means combined with a storage cell an energy-saving mode function was added so as to reduce the power consumption of the electronic watch, so long as a problem would not be created with regard to use of the electronic watch.
For example, as indicated in Japanese examined patent application publication H5-60075, in a known electronic watch using a solar cell as the main power supply, in the case in which sunlight does not strike the solar cell for a prescribed length of time, the electronic watch goes into the energy-saving mode, and when sunlight again strikes the solar cell, the energy-saving mode is canceled.
The energy-saving mode function of an electronic watch of the past places first priority on extending the usage life of the power supply as much as possible, and in the case in which there is a condition which is disadvantageous to the power supply, such as when the watch uses the solar cell as a power supply, if the surrounding area becomes dark, the energy-saving mode will be enabled, and drive of a display means, including display of time information is stopped.
In recent years, however, electronic watches having a plurality of built-in function display mechanisms, such as a chronograph display function, an alarm display function, a barometric pressure display function, a water depth display function, and a temperature display function have become practical, and it is possible simultaneously with the display of time or alternating with the display of time to display one or a plurality of such function information on a prescribed display means.
In these recent electronic watches, if the energy-saving mode used in the past is utilized, in the case in which in a situation disadvantageous to the power supply occurs, because it becomes impossible to display not only the time information, but also function information on the display means, in particular in an environment in which the function information is required, the function information display means cannot be used, thereby sacrificing the product value of a multifunction electronic watch.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to improve. on the above-noted drawbacks in the past technology, by providing, an electronic watch in a multifunction electronic watch capable of providing a large number of types of added function information, an electronic watch and drive method therefor providing an individually usable energy-saving mode and function information operation state mode.
In order to achieve the above-noted object, the present invention has the following technical constitution. Specifically, a first aspect of the present invention is a an electronic watch having a reference signal generation means, a time information generation means for generating time information based on a reference signal from the reference signal generation means, a function information generation means for generating function information, a display drive means, which outputs a drive signal for displaying function information and time information, and a display means for displaying function information and time information based on a drive signal from the display drive means, this electronic watch having an energy-saving operating condition-in which the power consumption is less than in a normal operating condition, and being configured so that a function operating condition of the function information generation means is given higher priority than the energy-saving operating condition.
A more specific example of the present invention is a second aspect of the present invention, this being an electronic watch having a reference signal generation means, a time information generation means for generating time information based on a reference signal from the reference signal generation means, a function information generation means for generating function information, a display drive means, which outputs a drive signal for displaying function information and time information, and a display means for displaying function information and time information based on a drive signal from the display drive means, this electronic watch having an energy-saving operating condition in which the power consumption is less than in a normal operating condition, and being configured so that when the function information generation means operates during the energy-saving operating condition, the energy-saving operating condition is cancelled.
Additionally, a third aspect of the present invention is a more specific example of the above-noted first aspect thereof, this being an electronic watch a reference signal generation means, a time information generation means for generating time information based on a reference signal from the reference signal generation means, a function information generation means for generating function information, a display drive means, which outputs a drive signal for displaying function information and time information, and a display means for displaying function information and time information based on a drive signal from the display drive means, this electronic watch having an energy-saving operating condition in which the power consumption is less than in a normal operating condition, and being configured so that if a condition for entering the energy-saving operating condition is satisfied while the function information generation means is in an operating condition, the watch does not enter the energy-saving operating condition.